Re: Lucio Fulci

An acquired taste, for sure. I love it! The directing, atmosphere that's created, music/scores, gore, etc. Zombie is a personal favorite of mine. Demonia is easily a close second. One that doesn't seem to get a lot of attention either.

Re: Lucio Fulci

Fulci has a great director's eye. He sets up some fantastic scenes and captures them on film incredibly well. His writing can be hit or miss. Some of his movies are pretty incoherent at times. At his best he's up there with Carpenter and Romero though. For me, stuff like Zombie, New York Ripper and The Psychic are some of the best Italian horror films out there.

Re: Lucio Fulci

I've and Have Deep Red and The House By the Cemetery, but I wasn't really a fan of either. They are not bad films, but I think Giallo's are definietly an aquired taste. I don't know at this point if I should try more or if they are just not for me.

I also have Argento's Suspiria and couldn't get into that as much as I would have liked either.

Re: Lucio Fulci

Vamp_Slayer wrote:

I've and Have Deep Red and The House By the Cemetery, but I wasn't really a fan of either. They are not bad films, but I think Giallo's are definietly an aquired taste. I don't know at this point if I should try more or if they are just not for me.

I also have Argento's Suspiria and couldn't get into that as much as I would have liked either.

Just watch them a few times each (with the volume all the way up) and you'll get what their trying to do...

Suspiria is one of the greatest horror movies ever.. Don't worry about the plot too much, just sit back and enjoy it from scene to scene.. Especially take note of the lighting and set design.. Plus the soundtrack by Goblin is genius...

Back to Fulci though, i watched "cat in a brain" for the first time... It was funny.. Fulci is the main character, playing himself in his own movie, driven insane by types of films he makes...

Re: Lucio Fulci

Cat in the Brain is one of those movies that is so absolutely god-awful that you can't help but be entertained by it. I picked it up on DVD a few months back after not having seen in about fifteen years, and was amazed by just how absurd and, honestly, inept a movie it is.

But my favorite thing about it is that amid all the absurdity, you've got Fulci -- who was not a very a good actor -- doing his damnedest to play it straight. It adds a whole other level to the movie; you've got this ridiculous plot, this mix 'n match of snippets from other Fulci movies, the horribly realized and badly acted slasher character, and then you've got Fulci doing his best Michael Moriarty impersonation as the put-upon director slowly succumbing to insanity. It's a horrible movie, completely ridiculous -- and a lot of fun to watch because of it.

Re: Lucio Fulci

The thing about Fulci is, he had a prolific carrer in films before jumping into horror. He went from well constructed drama's to the money making horror film. He thought people cared less about a story and more about seeing something they have never seen before. So yeah, his movies have very week parts, but you never forget what you see visually. not to mention when these movies were made. to this day i will show people scenes from zombie, gates of hell, and the beyond, and the reaction to those scenes are the same as 25 years ago, so he did something right!

Re: Lucio Fulci

LoudLon wrote:

Cat in the Brain is one of those movies that is so absolutely god-awful that you can't help but be entertained by it. I picked it up on DVD a few months back after not having seen in about fifteen years, and was amazed by just how absurd and, honestly, inept a movie it is.

But my favorite thing about it is that amid all the absurdity, you've got Fulci -- who was not a very a good actor -- doing his damnedest to play it straight. It adds a whole other level to the movie; you've got this ridiculous plot, this mix 'n match of snippets from other Fulci movies, the horribly realized and badly acted slasher character, and then you've got Fulci doing his best Michael Moriarty impersonation as the put-upon director slowly succumbing to insanity. It's a horrible movie, completely ridiculous -- and a lot of fun to watch because of it.

I just thought it was great how he played himself in a movie.. It wasn't actually him, instead an over exaggerated version of himself.. He's considered to be the Godfather of Gore, and he really plays that role and lays it on thick... When i think of what Fulci would be like in person i just think of him in this movie.. and i like that.

Re: Lucio Fulci

It's interesting you mention that. I have a documentary about Fulci on DVD (Paura: Lucio Fulci remembered) and while a few of the female interviewees aren't all that kind about him, most people say he had a really macabre sense of humor (and, as a side note, was really bad with women ).

It's the sense of humor they mention that, to me, is most apparent in Cat in the Brain. I think he knew the movie was bad and opted to play his role straight despite knowing he wasn't a good enough actor to pull it off. So it's true when they say Cat is his most personal film, at least as it pertains to his noted sense of humor.

Re: Lucio Fulci

Fulci said he only played the part because the actor he hired never showed up.I think the film-within-a-film premise itself and the way he made an attempt to riff on the effects of movie violence was pretty clever; unfortunately, it is ineptly composed LOL

Re: Lucio Fulci

Oh. Well, there you go, then.

Funny. I think I liked it better when under the impression Fulci took the lead so he could push it further into absurdity. Now that I know he only took the role because the actor dropped out...I don't think I like it as much.

Re: Lucio Fulci

You should check out his flick Contraband (aka The Smuggler). I think I've already mentioned it elsewhere in this thread. It's been accused of basically being a rip off of The Godfather -- and, honestly, it kind of is -- but it's also a good flick in its own right, and quite splattery.

Re: Lucio Fulci

I've only seen Don't Torture a Duckling which isn't really a fair indication of his work, i enjoyed it though although it took me a while to get use to the english dub, the young boy sounds like he's voiced by a middle aged woman Bart Simpson style...but i liked it and i really ought to check out more of his work.